I have two dreams where I was going to be working at Kmart. In real life, I spent many years in retail with the last 5 or so in management at a competitor of Kmart (I never have worked there). The first dream was from a few months ago:

In this dream, I was walking the inside perimeter of the store with the Store Manager. I didn't work for him, but I knew that I could help him if he wanted me to join him. As we walked, I looked at the way he had merchandised these outer walls. There was very little rhyme or reason to it. The only consistency was that each four-foot section (sometimes a couple of them, so 8 or 12 feet) contained merchandise from the same department. We stopped at one that had some old, clearance stereo displays on it. He didn't see anything wrong with it - saying that he had placed all the clearance together to make it easier for the customer. But, based upon where we were in the store (all the way in the back), I explained that a customer wasn't going to come back there for these items - they'd look in the electronics department, even for clearance. I advised him to merchandise them there, that they'd sell really quickly, and that it would free up this area for something that could be tied into the adjacent department. I understood his thinking, that it seemed organized to pull all the clearance stuff out and dedicate a section of this outer wall to each department...but as far as actually moving the stuff out of his store, it would make sense to keep it in the area where people would be looking for similar, regular priced stuff.

Now, here's part of last night's dream that dealt with a similar situation:

So, we (my mother and I) move through the store and eventually find ourselves in Kmart. I was scoping the place out because I was going to work there, back in management. I had all kinds of ambition, and I knew that I had a lot of ideas and experience that would make me successful there. As we walked around the store, I saw so many things that could be improved - they were opportunities for me, really. In one particular area, there was a paint section - as in, selling cans of paint. It looked more like a clearance thing than a serious, permanent paint department. A customer approached me and asked if this place had paint thinner. I directed her to the paint section, saying that it would make sense for it to be there. We searched a little bit, but I don't believe that we found it. I was aware that the store had another paint section - combining them, to me, made the most sense. You'd want the customers to see all that you had available in one location...not leave them thinking that you didn't have something when it was actually in a repeat section elsewhere in the store.

I see the theme in both of them about not separating things out from where they belong. I don't quite see how this may apply to my own life...but, I could very well be missing it. This scene from the 2nd dream was actually the accomplished purpose of the entire dream - I didn't include the beginning and end parts.

When I read these dreams the thing that stuck out to me was that you were in a position of knowledge and experience and you tried to make things simpler for people. I believe that God could be showing you that He is going to use you to break down things for people who may be "missing it" even if they are in a position of leadership like the manager you were talking about. You are able to look at the situation as a whole and able to see what doesn't make sense. You are very practical and want to put things where they belong and where they will serve their purpose.

Thanks, Shan. I think that you are correct in what you've shared. In every job that I've held, I've ended up in a training-type position where I do just as you've described - breaking the information down in ways that it can be easily understood. And, yes...in real life, this includes those who are in a position of authority over me.

I just wanted to add something that I forgot to say in my post. I saw you in a position of ministry when I read your dream and that Kmart is symbolic of God's kingdom. Don't know if that came across in my post:)

But I have a quick question about the paint... did you notice anything about the "colors" of the paint? Sometimes color can mean what you're feeling emotionally inside. Like red for either passion or anger, as an example.

I sensed this dream is about your emotions and how eager you are to be part of the process of helping others get "promoted" into success; as it makes you happy to see others excel.

Nope, none of the colors of the paint were even known to me. I just saw generic labelled cans in the paint section. I did know, though, that the paint thinner that the customer was searching for was not in the mix.